Colts for Trinity County

[msheak]

I had the pleasure yesterday of seeing the sheriff here in Trinity County, and he showed me one of the new pistols that his department had gotten through offical letterhead from the Feds. It was thye most pristeen Remington/Rand 1911A1 I have ever seen ! He is carrying this one, and says the other one was also a Remington, and was only two serial numbers off. The department changed out the grips, and put on higher visablity sights, but in a way that could be changed back easy. The other two pistols, that he got, but I have not seen yet, are Singers 1911's. I ask him if all the pistols came through in such good shape, he said yes they did, and that it took forever to get the "grease", ( I suspect it was cosmolin) out of them. He also recieved twelve M-16's that he discribed as Vietnam era M-16's, and four M1-A1's.

When I asked him if all his officers were now carrying 45's he stated they were, and with this new batch had one extra in researve. I asked hi how they had found these pistols, and it seems one of his deputies had stumbled on to a grant application, and they filled it out to get them.

Oh, one more thing, the Remington's and Singers; they all come back as manufactured in 1943. Makes you wonder what other weapons are out there in inventory just waiting to be gotten out .

[thetinker]

Where is Trinity County?

[Colt-SL]

Are we actually talking about California??

[Mike Faires]

Are you talking Trinity County ,Texas?

[msheak]

Trinity County is in deep East Texas. By Texas standards it is a small county. The county seat is Groveton, and only has 1100 population. It was a favorite hangout of John Wesley Harden, and Bonnie and Clyde were known it stop here on occasion. It is big in the timber industry, and unfortunatly now the fight against meth is taking place. I believe there is about 20 deputies, plus the sheriff, and 2 investigators. The jail has 6 cells, and was built in the early '30's by the CCC. The sheriffs office is maybe 1600 sq. feet All the deputies patrol "single man" so any backup for them is not even close.We still have a mounted posse for searchs

[msheak]

Yes Mike, just down the road from you..

[quietman]

Just an interested reader...am I reading correctly that the dept. is to receive two Singer 1911A1's? That is the most amazing thing I can remember reading. Very cool! Dan

[BigG]

The date on the guns might be a convention that the government adopted. For example all 45 CID Harley motorcycles were marked 1942 by convention. Their VINs are 42 no matter when they were delivered. The 45 pistols might be similar.

[Mike Faires]

As to the Singers, all Singers were manufactured on a 1940 contract and delivered in 1941. If we are not talking about Arsenal reworks in which the uppers marked as Singer and the lowers from other manufacturers may be mixed. If that is the case the serial numbers (on the frame) may go to 1943

[Rob Greer]

Another possibility is the pistols are actually US&S... they have been confused by many people as being Singers. They would also date correctly to 1943. Nice US&S pistols are quite desireable as they are the second rarest M1911A1 manufactured... second only to Singer.